Chapter 66 The Gloomy Bearing of Reading Notes--Reading "Macbeth"

"But my eager ambition drove me to take the risk of being stumbled regardless of everything"--Macbeth, "The Complete Works of Shakespeare• Volume VI", 130 pages, Yilin Press, 1999. "How painful is this sigh! There is infinite sorrow in her heart." "The Complete Works of Shakespeare• Volume VI", p. 178. --doctor "Macbeth" can be regarded as a symmetrical companion to "Julius Caesar".That one showed the spirit of heroism and sacrifice; this one highlights people's play and commitment to their own primitive desires.Judging from the spiritual level reached, both are at the highest level, and both describe the great tragedy of human beings themselves, and the protagonists are both representatives of human nature.

There is a primitive wilderness in the heart of the general Macbeth, where witches of desire are active in the bloody and evil forest.These demons not only tease Macbeth, they can also predict the future, because they are Macbeth's deep consciousness (or unconsciousness).On weekdays, they lurk in that dark area, and only when encountering major changes and opportunities, they will surface to meet Macbeth.Obviously, Macbeth’s mental activities are following the hints of the witches, but his understanding always lags behind the hints. This is because there are countless levels in the deep consciousness, and what people can understand is always only the surface. At that level, people are always "making mistakes" and continue to understand themselves in the "mistakes".

The highest symbol of worldly desire is the throne.Chance makes it possible for Macbeth to covet the throne and take it.However, Macbeth is a civilized man who understands the rules of a civilized society and possesses the rationality of a civilized man.But that kind of pale rationality, when it confronts the boiling primitive desire, looks so powerless.As a matter of course, Macbeth followed the call of desire and began the somber career of ruining the boat.It can be seen that the original force does not show the masculine beauty in him at all, but presents a dark, gloomy and depressing appearance, and every breakthrough is a desperate collision.This is the image of our civilized people.Macbeth has instinctively felt the essence of this undertaking from the very beginning, and he is long past the age of imagination.

"If it is a good omen, why does that sentence create such horrible impressions in my mind that my hairs grow wild and my heart beats like crazy? The imagined horror is far greater than the actual The Horror of God..." The Complete Works of Shakespeare • VI, p. 124 This is also the confrontation between civilization and barbarism.The most frightening thing is not murder, but Macbeth is always introspective, and his introspection is equivalent to staging a horror drama secretly.It was his introspection that made him timid, indecisive, and indecisive, so that he could not successfully realize his desires without the help of his strong wife.Since civilization puts shackles on man, it is impossible for man to break free from this shackle completely, so no matter how great his impulse is and how powerful his strength is, Macbeth can only be a sober murderer; She is a female animal like his wife, and bears a more terrible pressure inside than him (which led to her early death).Macbeth is a typical example of obsession with desire. In human society, if a person wants to be faithful to his inner desire, he will have a spiritual process similar to Macbeth. This process can only be clouded and suffocated. Occasional glimmers of sunshine only heralded more dire storms.Macbeth's extreme example demonstrates the ability of man to take on whatever happens to him and to make the most of his potential.Of course, the result is not the victory of barbarism over civilization, but confrontation and fighting to the end in an eternal unity.

Macbeth had a fierce inner struggle before committing a crime, and what hindered him was not the so-called "conscience", but fear.He fears that his crime will be exposed and that he will be punished.He is a person who lives the most real life. From the moment the thought of killing first came into his mind, he thought of everything.He thought of the revelation of the matter, and also thought of his miserable ending.Even so, he still has to seize the opportunity to fight hard to experience the highest pleasure.He thought this way when he just got murderous: "No matter how things happen, the worst days will pass." "The Complete Works of Shakespeare• Volume VI", p. 124.

Such words have a tragic meaning.Most people often only see Macbeth's "evil" when they read such scripts, so they regard him as a minority of villains.But Shakespeare's purpose is not to write about an exceptional villain, he wants to write about everyone, human beings.The type of Macbeth is the type of man. When the desire in the heart controls people, people often face Macbeth-like choices. Shakespeare just extremes this choice, and the purpose is of course to promote people's self-awareness.There is no doubt that the protagonist Macbeth has such self-awareness beyond ordinary people.Every step of his action is accompanied by that kind of self-reflection. He knows that the abnormal desire boiling in his heart makes him only act in this way, and he also knows what he will pay for it. He faces all these soberly.Only the crime of chance is blind, and Macbeth is obviously the opposite type.On the one hand, he tried his best to engage in the most sinister atrocities, on the other hand, he consciously bore a deep sense of guilt in his heart.

"Hold up your flames, stars! Do not let the light shine into my dark and deep desires. Eyes, look at these hands, and dare to face whatever they do!"--Macbeth from Shakespeare Complete Works • Volume Six", 126 pages. Introspection makes the choices thrilling.He also thought about retreating and calming down. When he turned back, he found that the way back was blocked; his heart was telling him that once such a thing started, he could only go forward bravely. For those who sin, it is better to live once and die than to let their desires linger in the dying.In this way, Macbeth chose this career that cannot be retreated in the gloom, and drove himself to the guillotine step by step.When he does this, all feelings of sentimentality and nostalgia are cut off, for the highest pleasure is never without the threat of death.

"I have made up my mind, and I will use all my strength to do this astonishing act." --Macbeth, "The Complete Works of Shakespeare• Volume VI", page 132. Even after making up his mind, hesitation never left him.During the execution of the murder, fear wrapped around him like a cold corpse, suffocating him.He didn't want to die, and he didn't want to lose his comfortable life. He stepped on the threshold of death with trepidation, and only the wildness boiling inside supported him--"In the fiery action, words are but a breath of cold air." This is how the wildness overwhelms civilization. Stepping on his feet, Macbeth's heart beat wildly to complete the crime.It is the explosion of the energy that human beings have accumulated for tens of thousands of years from apes to humans, and this abnormal explosion will be suppressed more severely by rationality starting from civilization.So Macbeth was paralyzed afterwards and completely collapsed, so he had to push the finishing work to his wife.Although he vowed to forget himself and be a beast after the murder, that was just a sentence.From then on, during those long sleepless nights, he had to face the bloody face of the king constantly, suffering in fear.This is also the situation he had expected.Macbeth's bloody act is also a test of his own rationality. Reason does not belong to civilization completely, but also belongs to animal nature through tortuous channels. This twisted and strange rationality is endowed with fresh vitality. Without infinite tension, its stalemate with desire also has eternity.Therefore, rational and severe sanctions cannot conquer desires, and the retreat is only temporary, in order to accumulate energy and commit more brutal crimes.

Macbeth seized the throne, and the short-lived pleasure was accompanied by endless terror. Once the killing started, it must continue, otherwise it would face extinction.From then on, Macbeth can only rush in the drowsy hell, as his wife said: "After all our efforts, we still get nothing. Although we achieve our goals, we don't feel satisfied at all. If we destroy others and surround ourselves with joys full of doubts, then it is not as good as the one we want. The one who has been harmed is left with nothing to worry about." "The Complete Works of Shakespeare• Volume Six", p. 149.

Macbeth makes the same complaint: "Why should we eat with worry, and sleep with the teasing of the nightmares which terrorize us every night?" The Complete Works of Shakespeare • VI, p. 150. Complaints are complaints, after all, this situation has long been expected by him, and he was prepared to take it from the very beginning.So he said again: "What began with unrighteousness must be strengthened with evil." "Shakespeare Collected Works • Sixth Book", p. 151. People not only have nightmares, but also see ghosts in broad daylight.His friend Banquo, who was killed by Macbeth, appeared bloody at his banquet and sat in his seat.This is much scarier than a nightmare.Macbeth has nowhere to run but to face, almost terrified.Confronting a ghost is the most extreme form of human self-judgment, which can knock the weak-willed to the ground and completely subdue them.But Macbeth is not a weak-willed person, he is a peculiar fellow, even if his feet are "deep in a pool of blood", he will "wad the blood" because "the road back is equally tiresome" ".Wherever the action goes, the consciousness will follow. The killing is accompanied by endless drowsy nightmares and the inescapable entanglement of ghosts. Macbeth has chosen such a way of life, of course he can only fight hard It's the end.Ambitious Macbeth, in this conspiratorial career, did not "get nothing" as his wife said, but on the contrary, he got everything he wanted, but what he got might not be the same. Not exactly as he had imagined.This is because people can only reach the surface layer of consciousness, and cannot see through the bottomless pit-like essence.No matter how dire Macbeth's situation, one thing will never change, and this is what the devils say:

"He will defy fate, repudiate life and death, transcend all reason, reject all doubts, cling to his impossible hopes..." "The Complete Works of Shakespeare• Volume Six", p. 158. Every time Macbeth asks the witches about his own destiny in the wilderness, it is actually an inquiry about his own soul.The soul answered all his questions, but he couldn't understand them.In other words, he actually understood and acted according to the instructions of the soul, but the result and the answer will not be revealed until the end.For example, the forest of Birnam will move to Dunsinen Mountain, for example, he will die at the hands of a man who was not born by a woman, all of which are all fables of Macbeth's fate; and he, who "despises fate", has never He planned to back down, but instead was aroused a kind of challenging curiosity, only wanting to see the answer to the mystery.What a master artist describes here is actually his art itself, which is a common feature of works from geniuses.This kind of questioning has been started since the existence of human beings, and artists regard this as their lifelong career.Witches and ghosts urge Macbeth to show his desire to the end, "as proud and fearless as a lion".What they said was the wish in his heart.Of course, he will never become a proud lion, the shackles of civilization have become his inescapable skin, he is doomed to have nightmares, "Damn", and commit crimes at the same time, and he is also doomed to be a gloomy man criminal.Even if the throne is in his hands, what he faces is only the abyss. Macbeth quickly loses everything, and his wife, unable to bear the weight of guilt, goes before him.When he heard of her death, he sighed like this: "Extinguish it, extinguish it. A fleeting candle! Life is but a walking shadow, a poor player who struts and gesticulates upon the stage, comes a moment, then quietly withdraws; it is told by a fool A story full of sound and fury, but finding no meaning." "The Complete Works of Shakespeare• Volume VI", p. 184. The emptiness of life is revealed, but where is the meaning of Macbeth's life? Of course, it is in his actions of resistance and in his troubles.So he went on to say: "Blow, wind! Come, perish! Even if we die, we will lay down our lives on the battlefield." "The Complete Works of Shakespeare• Volume Six", p. 185. "They have bound me hand and foot: I cannot escape, but I must fight like a bear to the end." "Shakespeare Complete Works • Sixth Book", p. 186. That's what he was, and at his core, he was more resilient than his wife.Even if he loses sleep every night, even if he sees ghosts in broad daylight, he can't overwhelm him. He has the strength to bear the inner fight that is far more cruel than the external murder, until the end of his life, until the moment he sees the answer to the mystery.His image is the image of a spiritual giant among our ancestors hundreds of years ago. This image is gloomy on the outside, not strong and decisive enough, but inside it burns an unquenchable fire. Lady Macbeth represents the wildest and hardest part of Macbeth's character, she is like an unruly female beast.To civilized people, she's a little hard to understand.She comes across as vicious, greedy, and straightforward.She speaks out the essence of everything, unlike Macbeth who hesitates and uses words to cover up his bestiality.She is best at explaining the things that Macbeth can't say, in a horrifying way.When this career was just an unclear premonition in Macbeth's heart, her forward-looking eyes saw the future development, her bloodthirsty heart was extremely excited, and her blood "felt the pulse of the future".She spoke frankly of this future to her dear husband, and mustered his courage to claim the highest honor.However, even such a woman is still living in the shackles of civilization, and her humanity is not weaker than the animal nature, which makes her suffer more sharply than Macbeth, just like a sharp-toothed saw Her nerves tugged back and forth. "Don't you dare have your deeds and courage conform to your desires? You would rather be like a timid cat, with a reputation which you consider life's ornament, to make yourself a coward in your own eyes, to let Dare I not follow forever behind what I want?" "The Complete Works of Shakespeare• Volume VI", p. 131. --Lady Macbeth Lady Macbeth is like the backbone of Macbeth, constantly spurring Macbeth with aggressive methods, provoking his wildness, so that he can turn the impossible into reality.This strange woman, who could pluck a nipple from the tender mouth of a baby in her arms, and smash his brains to pieces, had no idea what she was made of.But even such a beastly woman was still in the grip of civilization, and one crime after another had at last found its vengeance in her soul, and this vengeance had transformed her into a sleepwalker.In the dark night, what has been done.All shall be punished equally, and no crime shall be spared in the court of the soul.The cannibalism of the heart led to the final brokenness, and the strong woman finished her short life.She died in the trial deep in her soul. On the surface, it seemed unclear, but in fact it was the way she had chosen long ago.She has the same degree of self-awareness as Macbeth, and of course she suffers from the same inner torment: "The imagined horror is far greater than the actual horror." So there is another play behind this play, which belongs to the eternity of the night. Shameful tragedy, which is performed in the dream of Macbeth and his wife--the kingdom deep in the soul, its shocking degree is far beyond the tragedy that people can see, what Shakespeare wants to write is it, He's written it out with fantastic subtext.Lady Macbeth is struggling at the hands of an unseen executioner when the doctor and maids spy on Lady Macbeth's nightly performance.Not only the doctor couldn't save her, but the priest also couldn't save her. This internal fight initiated by herself must end in her sacrifice.When Macbeth talks to the doctor about his wife's illness, he is also talking about his own illness. There is only one medicine for this disease. What else can I do but fight to the end? Is it possible to return to the "tiring" calmness that is life and death? Lady Macbeth not only guides Macbeth, but also asks him to muster up the courage to obey his own desire, and finally used his own death as an example of self-judgment for him.In this way, under the encouragement of his beloved wife, Macbeth strengthened his determination to "sacrifice his life on the battlefield" and carry out the cause they jointly planned to the end.